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  Lionel Barrymore - Character and...

  Kathleen Spaltro

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  Once called "the most gifted character actor of our time," Lionel Barrymore (1878-1954) was part of the illustrious Barrymore acting dynasty. Although he garnered success on stage and screen and was a talented actor, writer, director, visual artist, and composer, he never escaped the shadow of his family. Barrymore won the Academy Award for Best Actor in A Free Soul and was nominated for Best Director for Madame X. He is best known for his role as Mr. Potter in It's a Wonderful Life and as the voice of Ebenezer Scrooge. He spent the last two decades of his career playing versions of his signature character—the curmudgeonly but lovable gentleman—in a variety of films. Barrymore worked alongside some of Hollywood's most recognizable names, and his legacy is enshrined at the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 
   
   
   
  In Lionel Barrymore, Kathleen Spaltro examines Barrymore as an individual. This comprehensive study divides Barrymore's life into three acts. Act One follows Barrymore's early days. Act Two details Barrymore's establishment as a fixture at MGM. Act Three expounds on Barrymore's curation of his trademark character and his fateful final years. Spaltro unearths Barrymore's personal challenges, recounts his difficulties with his family, and delves into the devastating losses Barrymore suffered. Lionel Barrymore is a multifaceted portrait of a brilliant character actor.

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  A Crown of Stars

  Shana Abe

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  In turn of the century England, the Jolivet family lives a charmed existence. Daughters of a wealthy vineyard owner and a French pianist, aspiring actress Marguerite, the eldest of three, and her sister Inez, a virtuosa violinist, move to London. Soon the two are being celebrated in the highest social circles. Marguerite takes the stage name Rita, and quickly draws the attention of legendary theater producer Charles Frohman. While filming in Italy, she's courted by a charismatic aristocrat, while Inez has already found love and travels the world with her husband. 
   
  Yet soon, war is raging across Europe. While in New York, Rita receives word from Inez that their brother is about to enlist. Hoping to see him, Rita books a ticket on the fastest steamer available: the RMS Lusitania. But the ship sails under a British flag, and the German government warns that all such vessels are fair game. Few believe Germany would risk attacking a ship carrying Americans. Once aboard, Rita is delighted to discover both Charles and her brother-in-law as fellow passengers. The days pass in a haze of pleasurable pursuits, and the comforts of the luxury ocean liner are almost enough to calm Rita's unease. But as the ship nears Liverpool, every assumption will be tested, and Rita, her family, and the world, will be changed forever by the voyage's infamous and catastrophic end . . .

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  Andrew Johnson - A Life from...

  Hourly History

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  In historical surveys, Andrew Johnson has been consistently ranked as one of the worst presidents for well over 150 years. But despite his bad reputation, there is much more to the life of Andrew Johnson than these rankings suggest. 
  Andrew Johnson was a man who had long walked a political tightrope. He was a Southern Democrat who opposed the Democrat-dominated Southern states when they seceded from the Union—in fact, he was the only Southern senator to remain loyal to the United States. His strong stance earned him the respect of Republican President Abraham Lincoln—so much so that Lincoln made him his vice president during the 1864 presidential election. This was meant to be a gesture of unity, bridging the divide between parties and between Americans. Little did anyone know (least of all Andrew Johnson himself) that Lincoln would be assassinated just weeks into his second term, making Johnson president. He was thrust into a position he never imagined, forced to lead a nation through its most critical period of transformation. He continued to walk his tightrope every step of the way, but this time, the nation's future hung in the balance.

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  Diana - A Tribute to the...

  Peter Donnelly

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  Born with the proverbial silver spoon in her mouth, the Honorable Diana Frances Spencer attained wealth, power, and title with her marriage to Charles, Prince of Wales. But her ultimate triumph owed nothing to those circumstances and everything to her inner qualities: an innate ability to understand and connect with ordinary people, particularly the desperately sick, the rejected, the "unloved." Biographer and journalist Peter Donnelly recounts the remarkable story of Diana's unhappy childhood, her fairy tale marriage, and the recriminations and unhappiness surrounding her divorce—and in particular, how Diana captured hearts all over the world to become the people's princess.

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  Hitler's Girl - The British...

  Lauren Young

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  A timely, riveting book that presents for the first time an alternative history of 1930s Britain, revealing how prominent fascist sympathizers nearly succeeded in overturning British democracy—using the past as a road map to navigate the complexities of today’s turn toward authoritarianism. 
  Hitler’s Girl is a groundbreaking history that reveals how, in the 1930s, authoritarianism nearly took hold in Great Britain as it did in Italy and Germany. Drawing on recently declassified intelligence files, Lauren Young details the pervasiveness of Nazi sympathies among the British aristocracy, as significant factions of the upper class methodically pursued an actively pro-German agenda. She reveals how these aristocrats formed a murky Fifth Column to Nazi Germany, which depended on the complacence and complicity of the English to topple its proud and long-standing democratic tradition—and very nearly succeeded. 
  As she highlights the parallels to our similarly treacherous time, Young exposes the involvement of secret organizations like the Right Club, which counted the Duke of Wellington among its influential members; the Cliveden Set, which ran a shadow foreign policy in support of Hitler; and the shocking four-year affair between socialite Unity Mitford and Adolf Hitler. 
  Eye-opening and instructive, Hitler’s Girl re-evaluates 1930s England to help us understand our own vulnerabilities and poses urgent questions we must face to protect our freedom. At what point does complacency become complicity, posing real risk to the democratic norms that we take for granted? Will democracy again succeed—and will it require a similarly cataclysmic event like World War II to ensure its survival? Will we, in our own defining moment, stand up for democratic values—or will we succumb to political extremism? 
  Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

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  General Custer

  Geoffrey Giuliano

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  General George Armstrong Custer was one of the most famous and controversial military figures of nineteenth-century America. Celebrated as a daring Civil War cavalry commander and remembered for his dramatic final battle on the Great Plains, he became a symbol of both heroism and tragedy during a period of rapid national expansion and conflict. 
   
  Born in Ohio in 1839, Custer graduated from West Point just as the American Civil War began. His aggressive leadership and willingness to take risks quickly earned him promotion and national attention. By his mid-twenties, he had become one of the youngest generals in the Union Army, participating in many of the war's most significant campaigns. After the Civil War, Custer served with the Seventh Cavalry on the western frontier. His career became closely tied to the conflicts between the United States and Native American nations. 
   
  This biography traces Custer's life, military career, achievements, controversies, and lasting legacy. Drawing upon letters, military records, memoirs, and historical accounts, it examines a complex figure whose story remains central to understanding the American frontier and the nation's westward expansion.

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